I have several polkas that have been running through my head lately:
Britches full of stitches
Ballydesmond 1 & 2
Din Tarrant’s
Ger the Rigger
It seems to me that polkas take a backseat to jigs, hornpipes, and reels, which is a shame because they’re sooooo much fun to play…
What other Irish polkas would you recommend?
I love playing Polka’s too. I think folks are afraid of them from
remembering having to play accordians as kids. But, Polkas ARE
fun to ply, and everyone should try them all!
Lolly
John Ryan’s Polka is fun and pretty easy to play on the whistle.
The Scartaglen Polka
I’d vote for Ballydesmond’s #1 closely followed by Britches full of stiches.
Polkas are a blast to play.
Looks like my favorites are nearly everybody’s…Ballydesmond 1 and Britches Full of Stitches. I like polkas…somehow they seem more “intuitive” to me than reels.
Redwolf
I learned Morris Manley’s Polka from the L E McCollouch book. Then I learned Ballydesmond 2 from my teacher and it was the same polka. I liked it both times I learned it.
There are some very nice polkas played on Kevin Burke’s first Open House album. I don’t know the names and I kind of think that he and Mark Graham made them up. All of the Ballydesond polkas that I’ve heard are very nice but I’ve never learned any of them. My favorite polka to play is Riding on a Load of Hay which is on Liz Carroll’s first recording. Incidentally, there was an interview with Liz Carroll in a recent Sing Out. She was talking about bad gigs. One was playing in a hardware store in a Polish section of Chicago while the Energizer bunny was dancing with bad timing.
Steve
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ve already ‘googled’ and printed The Scartaglen Polka, Riding on a load of Hay, and John Ryan’s Polka.
The Whistle shop said that my L.E. McCollouch book is in the mail. Whoohoo more polkas on the way!
Hi,
have you see the book “110 Irelands best Polkas and Slides”? you can get a double CD to go with it. It’s one of a series from Waltons, the others being 110 Fiddle Tunes, 110 Session Tunes, 110 Tin Whistle Tunes and 110 Slow Airs.
Cheers, Mac
Here’s a convenient source for three Ballydesmonds all together.
http://www.celticmusic.com/cgi-localbin/tunes.pl
Steve
And here I was, thinking that there was just one polka that everyone plays, and then you come along and tell me that I’ve been hearing more than one?!?!
Oh man, this is almost as bad as finding out that the Frickin’ Recorder was actually a whistle.
Chris
Once in a while, I play a very nice polka. I think it’s called “The Last Chance” polka. I learned it from a great fellow in Ireland almost two years ago 
Call me weird (I know my fellow musicians do!) but I just LOVE every single Irish polka I’ve ever heard, and I would be unable to choose just one as my favorite. 
It’s nice not to feel like the only one in the world who likes to play Irish polkas!
Azalin, I couldn’t find The Last Chance polka through Google. Any clues where I might find the sheet music or a recording of it?
MacEachain, I am familiar with that book. Do you have the CDs? If so, are they listen-worthy or are they more instructional?
The polka set I play most is “Mimi & the new Generation Polkas”, because I learnt it entirely by ear off a CD.
I like “Egan’s Polka,” which is simple but fun to play. Confusingly, it is called “Peg Ryan’s Polka” around here.
I’ve taught my (6 year old) daughter both “Britches” and “Egan’s” on the violin, so they’re obviously easy to learn. Although I originally learned “Britches” in G, it seems to be played more often in A around here, so I had to re-learn it.
I recently learned “69th Street,” which is very catchy if a bit less bright than some of the other polkas. I believe it also goes by “The Galway Belle” or something like that. Under that name it appears in a polka medley on one of the Gaelic Storm cds, I think.
Other polkas we often play around here are “Dennis Murphy’s” (usually proceeding “John Ryan’s”), “Mickey Chewing Bubblegum” and “Maggie in the Woods.”
– Scott
My favorite polka is the one that’s finally over. 
Just kidding.
There’s quite a few that I enjoy, but I still love Ballydesmonds #2 and #3 after all this time.
N
I haven’t played it in a while, but I think my favorite Irish polka is still probably “Rainy Night Under the Bridge”. First runner up is “Jamica Jam” (or whatever it’s called) from the first track of Sean Smyth’s solo album The Blue Fiddle.
Still, why bother with Irish polkas when there are Newfoundland singles? They’re basically the same thing, and since the Newfoundlanders seem to have a lot more respect for the tune type, there are a bunch of very cool ones…
Peggy Ryan’s Fancy, and the Ballydesmond trilogy…
Trisha